Video: Overboard Cruise Passenger Recovered in the Gulf of Mexico
A passenger who fell overboard from a cruise ship in the Gulf of Mexico was rescued Thursday after a day of treading water, the U.S. Coast Guard said.
Watchstanders at Coast Guard Sector New Orleans received a call from the Carnival Valor at approximately 2:30 p.m. Thursday, reporting a passenger aboard the cruise ship was missing. The missing person, a 28-year-old male, had reportedly fallen overboard on Wednesday evening.
Watchstanders coordinated the launch of several rescue crews to begin searching, including a Coast Guard Air Station New Orleans MH-60 Jayhawk aircrew, a Coast Guard Station Venice 45-foot Response Boat-Medium boatcrew and a Coast Guard Aviation Training Center HC-144 Ocean Sentry aircrew.
At 8:25 p.m. on Thursday, the MH-60 Jayhawk aircrew rescued the missing passenger approximately 20 miles south of Southwest Pass, La. The aircrew was vectored into the area by the bulk carrier CRINIS who had observed a person in the water.
The Jayhawk aircrew hoisted the man onto the helicopter and transferred him to awaiting emergency medical services at the New Orleans Lakefront Airport. The man was last reported in stable condition.
“We are beyond grateful that this case ended with a positive outcome," said Lt. Seth Gross, a Sector New Orleans search and rescue mission coordinator. "It took a total team effort from Coast Guard watchstanders, response crews, and our professional maritime partners operating in the Gulf of Mexico to locate the missing individual and get him to safety. If not for the alert crew aboard the motor vessel Crinis, this case could have had a much more difficult ending.”